Protecting telecommunications equipment in telephone central offices or other locations against voltage surges and sneak currents is well known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,150 discloses a solid state protector for insertion in a telephone line having tip and ring conductors. The protector comprises a current unit, a voltage unit and a pair of springs assembled within a housing structure. The voltage unit includes solid state devices that respond instantaneously to spurious voltage surges on the telephone line in the tip conductor, the ring conductor, or both tip and ring conductors. When a voltage surge exceeds a predetermined threshold, the voltage device operates to ground the telephone line thereby insuring that the spurious voltage bypasses the telephone equipment in the central office.
The voltage unit disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,150 and similar voltage units often include one or more metal clips for retaining the various diodes, terminals and voltage limiter of the voltage unit in a desired assembled state. Heretofore, however, such voltage units have afforded no way to protect the delicate diodes contained therein as the clip is placed over the diodes. Consequently, the diodes often experience chipping, crushing, and related damage at their edges during placement of the clip thereon. This situation often requires replacement of the damaged diode, thereby increasing the manufacturing costs and assembly time of the voltage unit.